Thermal-barrier between inner and outer frames of double frame window structure



April 8, 1969 J. H. BELL ET AL 3,436,884

THERMAL-BARRIER BETWEEN INNER AND OUTER FRAMES OF DOUBLE FRAME WINDOWSTRUCTURE] Sheet of 2 Filed March 2, 1967 INVENTOR. IF? 2 Joy/v #42040 51/5/2577 15'. DAN/5L5 a 1 2 z- ATTORNEYS Apnl 8, 1969 J. H. BELL ET AL3,436,884

THERMAL-BARRIER BETWEEN INNER AND OUTER FRAMES 0F DOUBLE FRAME WINDOWSTRUCTURE Filed March 2, 1967 Sheet 2 of 2 BY 4 a a z ATTORNEY;

3,436,884 THERMAL-BARRIER BETWEEN INNER AND OUTER FRAMES OF DOUBLE FRAMEWIN- DOW STRUCTURE John Harold Bell and Everett Eugene Daniels,Litchfield,

Ill., assignors to WEPCO Division of The Weather- Proof Company,Litchfield, 111., a corporation of Ohio Filed Mar. 2, 1967, Ser. No.620,156 Int. Cl. E06b J/18, 3/26, N68

US. Cl. 52202 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Summary of inventionobjects This invention relates to improvements in thermal barriersbetween the exterior and interior frames of double frame windowstructures.

The invention generally relates to an improved form of thermal barrierbetween the inside and outside frames of a double frame sliding window,in which the barrier is of an improved construction and spaces theframes apart and effectively insulates the frames to prevent thecondensation of moisture on the inner window and sill. A principalfeature of the thermal barrier is its form in which two parallel spacedlegs connected together, intermediate their ends, have sealingengagement with the inner and outer frames and are adapted to be hookedto one frame and to slidably receive the other frame and are sealed tothe two frames to provide dead air pockets, between the inner and outerframes.

A principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide anovel and improved thermal barrier between the exterior and interiorframes of a double frame window in which the effectiveness of thethermal barrier is increased by the provision of generally parallelconnected legs having sealing engagement with the exterior and interiorframes at their ends and forming a generally hollow insulator betweenthe frames.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and improved formof thermal barrier between the exterior and interior frames of a windowin which the thermal effectiveness of the barrier is increased byforming the barrier in the form of two generally parallel spacedconnected legs forming in effect hollow dead air pockets as the legs aresealed to the exterior and interior frames of the window.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a simplified andimproved form of thermal barrier between the exterior and interiorframes of a double frame window structure in which the barrier is of agenerally H-shaped form hooked at the end of one leg to one frame, andin which the opposite ends of the legs are formed in the form of slides,accommodating the other frame to be slidably moved into positiontherealong, into sealing engagement with the thermal barrier.

These and other objects of the invention will appear from time to timeas the following specification proceeds and with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

nite States Patent 3,435,884 Patented Apr. 8, 1969 Description of thedrawings FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a double frame slidingwindow assembly constructed in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention.

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along lineII-II of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along lineIIIIII of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary detail vertical sectional view taken along aportion of the outside master frame and showing the thermal barrier inthe process of being hooked to the outside master frame.

Description of the preferred embodiment of the invention In theembodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, we havegenerally shown in FIGURE 1 a window frame 10 for an exterior stationarywindow 11, an exterior screen 12 and an inwardly spaced exterior slidingwindow 13 and inwardly spaced interior sliding windows 1515. It shouldhere be understood that while we have herein shown the thermal barrierapplied to a sliding window structure, that the window structure neednot be a double sliding window structure and may effectively be appliedto any double frame window structure.

The window frame 10, as generally shown in FIGURE 1 and partially shownin FIGURES 2 and 3, includes an exterior master frame 17 and an inwardlyspaced interior frame 18 separated from the exterior frame 17 'by athermal barrier 19, forming in effect a hollow insulator with dead airspaces between the exterior and interior frames, to eliminate theforming of moisture and frost on the interior frame and sash.

The exterior frame 17 includes a top rail 21, a bottom exterior sill 22and opposite styles 2323. The exterior frame may be formed from aluminumextrusions, which have an outwardly extending channel-like framestructure 25 for the screen 12, and integrally formed angle brackets 26extending along the top rail and bottom sill of the frame, to form asecuring means for securing the exterior frame to a window opening in abuilding in a conventional manner. The styles 2323 may be secured to theframe of a building in a similar manner. Screws 20 threaded in screwreceptacles 24 may be provided to connect the styles 23 to the rail 21and sill 22.

The top rail 21 of the exterior frame has a rail 27 extending inwardlybeyond the sliding window 13 and having a leg 29 extending upwardlytherefrom having a gib 30 extending outwardly of the upper end portionof the leg 29. The rail 27 also has a depending leg 31 extending alongthe inside of the sliding window 13, which may be suitably sealedthereto.

The top rail 21 also has a downwardly spaced angularly inwardlyextending leg 32 terminating in an upright flange 33 extending parallelto the leg 31, and with the outside of the leg 31 forming an upper guidefor the sliding window 13.

The sill 22 has an inwardly extending leg portion 35 having a rail 36extending vertically therefrom and engaged by grooved rollers 37suitably journalled in a bottom rail 39 of the sash for the slidingwindow 13. The legs and rollers support the window for slidable movementinto a closed position in front of the screen 12 and into an openposition along the inside of the stationary window 11 (FIGURE 3).

The sliding window 13 may be suitably sealed to the exterior frame 17and to the inside of the flange 33 and outside of the leg 31, forming aslide for the window, in a manner which need not be shown or describedherein, since it forms no part of the present invention. The inwardlyextending leg portion 35 of the sill 22 terminates in an upright leg 40spaced inwardly of the rail 36 and extending generally parallel thereto.The leg 40 has an inwardly extending upper end seating portion 41terminating into a depending gib 42, forming a guide for a lowerinsulator 43 of the thermal barrier. The inwardly extending rail portion35 also has a downwardly turned inner end portion 45 having a supportleg 46 extending horizontally therefrom, terminating into an upright gib47 spaced inwardly of the downturned portion 45 and form ing a supportchannel for a lower leg portion 48 of the insulator 43.

The interior frame 18 has a top rail 49, a bottom rail or sill 50 andstyles 51, 51 connecting the top and bottom rails together. The top railis secured to the styles 51, 51 as by screws 53 extending therethroughand threaded in inwardly opening screw receptacles 54 extending inwardlyof the styles 51. In a like manner, the styles 51 are secured to thebottom rail or sill 50 as by screws 55, 55 threaded in inwardly openingscrew receptacles 56, 56 extending inwardly of the styles 51, 51.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the sill or bottom rail 50 has an inner angularlyinwardly and downwardly extending leg 57, terminating into a verticaldownwardly facing rib 59 slidably engageable with an upwardly openingchannelled guide 60 in a lower leg 61 of the lower insulator 43 of thethermal barrier 19. Spaced above the downwardly extending leg 57 andextending inwardly of the bottom sill 50, is a horizontally inwardlyextending ledge 63 terminating into a upright gib 64 and cooperatingwith the inner side of the sill 50 to form a channelled guide for adepending gib 65 depending from the inner end of the leg of theinsulator 43.

The sashes 15, have slides 66, 66 extending along the bottoms thereof,slidable along spaced ledges 67, 67 spaced above the bottom wall of thebottom rail 50 of the interior frame. The slides 66 extend beyondopposite sides of sashes 69 for the sliding window and upwardly alongthe inner sides thereof and may be made from a plastic material havinglubricating qualities, such as Teflon, or any other suitable materialwhich Will support the windows for free sliding movement along theledges 67. The window structure and its support is no part of thepresent invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

Referring now in particular to the thermal barrier 19, spacing theinterior frame from the exterior frame, and forming a hollow insulatorbetween said frames, said thermal barrier 19 includes top and sideinsulators 70, 70 and the bottom insulator 43. The insulators 70 and 43are all constructed on similar principles, the principal differencebeing that the insulators 70 are hooked to the top rail and the stylesof the exterior frame and the interior rails and styles are then slidalong the insulators, when assembling the window structure, while thebottom insulator 43 is slid onto the bottom rail of the exterior sashand the interior assembly is then slid into place along the bottominsulator.

As shown in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 the insulators 70 are generally H-shapedin form and have parallel legs 71 and 72 connected together by a crossmember 73. The structure of the insulators 70 and of the exterior andinterior styles and rails, spaced apart by the insulators 70, aresimilar, so the top insulator and top rails 21 and 18 need only bedescribed in detail herein, and like reference characters will beapplied to like parts of the insulators and rails and styles.

The inner leg 71 of the insulator has a plane outer end abutting theinner end of the leg 31 of the top exterior rail 21. The opposite end ofthe inner leg 71 has a gib 75 extending therealong in a direction, whichis shown in FIGURE 2 as being an upward direction. The leg 71 rests on aledge 76 extending along the inside of an inner frame member 77 of theinner top rail 18. The gib 75 extends upwardly into a downwardly openingretainer channel 76a, extending along the inside of the leg 77, towardthe exterior rail 21, and forming a retainer and sealing slide for theinsulator 70. The top leg 72 has a downwardly opening channelled guide79 depending from its inner end and extending therealong, and engageablewith the top surface of a leg 80 extending angularly upwardly andvertically of a top face 81 of the top rail 18, and spaced inwardly ofsaid top face. The leg 80 is sealed to the top leg 72 by its sliding fitwithin the channelled guide '79.

The outer side of the top leg 72 has a plane abutment face 83, abuttedby the leg or flange 29, when the insulator is in place on thestationary rail. The abutment face 83 terminates into a recess 85,formed by a hooklike end 86 of the leg 72.

In assembling the insulator to the top rail 21, the recess 85, formed bythe hook-like end 86 of the top leg 72, is engaged with the gib 30, asshown in FIGURE 4. The leg 72 being hooked to the gib 30, the insulatoris rotated in a clockwise direction to position the outer end of the leg71 into engagement with the leg 31 of the top rail. A series of screws87, which may be self-tapping screws, may then be installed by placingthrough the web or cross member 73 of the insulator, and threading thescrews in the inner leg 31 of the top rail 21.

When the insulator 70 is in position on the top rail 21, the interiortop rail 18 may be slidably moved into position from the end of theinsulator 70 by registering the gib 75 with the end of the downwardlyopening gibbed guide 76, and registering the leg 80 within thedownwardly opening channelled guide 79, and then sliding the interiorframe along the guides 76 and 79 into position, and evening up the endof the interior top rail 18 with the end of the exterior top rail 21.When the top rail 18 is in position along the insulator 70 the insulator43 may then be slidably moved onto the bottom rail or interior sill 50,with the leg 59 engaging the channelled guide 60, and the gib 64extending along the inside of the depending gib 65 of the top leg of theinsulator.

The bottom rail 50 together with the insulator 43 may then be slidablymoved along the support leg 46 and gib 42 of the exterior sill 22 of themaster frame. The ends of the interior and exterior sills may then beevened up.

The style insulators 70 may then be hooked to the interior legs 31 ofthe exterior styles 51 and secured thereto as by self-tapping screws 87in the same manner the insulator 70 is hooked to the interior leg of thetop rail 21.

The top and bottom rails may then be attached to the interior andexterior styles by the screws 20, connecting the top rail 21 to the topof the exterior styles 27 and connecting the bottom exterior rail orsill 22 to the bottom of the exterior styles, and by the screws 53 and55, connecting the top and bottom rails to the top and bottom ends ofthe interior styles 51.

The frame is then assembled for placing in a window opening, with theinterior frame completely insulated from the exterior frame by thehollow thermal barrier 19, formed by the insulators 70, 70 and 43.

The insulators 70 and 43 may preferably be made from a relatively rigidplastic material and may be made from nylon, Teflon, or various otherplastic materials providing good insulating qualities and the rigidityto accommodate sliding of the rails and styles along the insulator, toform seals with the rails and styles, forming in effect hollow thermalbarriers between the rails and styles with dead air spaces between theinterior and exterior frames to thereby increase the insulatingeffectiveness thereof.

While we have herein shown and described one form in which the inventionmay be embodied, it may readily be understood that various variationsand modifications in the invention may be attained without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

We claim as our invention: 1. In a window structure and in combinationwith a a top rail,

end thereof and facing away from the frame member of the next adjacentframe,

means maintaining said exterior and interior frames in predeterminedspaced relation with respect to each other and forming a plurality ofair pockets between styles connected to opposite ends of said top rail,5 aid frame members comprising:

a sill connected between said styles at the lower ends a relatively riid plastic insulator, generally thereof, the improvements compris ng:H-shaped in form and having a pair of parallel means maintaining saidexterior and interior spaced l d a connecting member connect. frames inpredetermined spaced relation with 10 ing aid legs together,intermediate the ends respect to eaeh other and insulating the interiorthereof, an outer leg of said insulator having an ame m the eXleriOl'frame, Comprising a outer end portion having a hook-like recess thermalbarrier between Sai frames a therein terminating into a plain facefacing said tending about the perimeter thereof and includinner f f saidframe member, ing relatively rigid plastic insulators having P saidinsulator being adapted to be hooked onto allel spaced legs and aconnecting member consaid gib and pivoted inwardly to engage saidmeeting said legs together intermediate their ends, inner f d t engage ae nd parallel leg said leg5 being Sealed to Said exterior and ihte' ofsaid insulator with said inner face of said rior frames at their ends toprovide a plurality frame member, to id a l b t id of dead air Pocketsin the Space between Said vertical leg and the interior portions of saidlegs legs, said pockets each being on opposite sides d connecting b d ofd eolmeethlg members and extending about the opposite ends of said legsof said insulator havthe marginal portions of said exterior and intei libl li guides slidably engaged by ior a s the opposite frame member andaccommodating 2. Th s ru t Of C m ready assembly thereof, and havingsealing enwherein at least one insulator has an outer leg havinggagement i h th inner f f id osite a hooked end portion, hooked to oneof said frames f ame member to id a o d ai pocket on and pivoted aboutits region of hooked engagement h Opposite id of id connecting b r withsaid frame to engage an inwardly spaced leg of f id fir t i k t aid insat r With d frame, to l ah Poeket 3O 6. The structure of claim 5,wherein screws are threaded be w n S frame and Said eonlleetlng member,and in the connecting member of said insulator to secure said whereinthe opposite ends of said legs have guide porinsulator to i f e b tionsextending therealong having slidable guiding en- 7 The structure f claim5 gagement With other of Said frames ahdfiealed wherein the thermalbarrier comprises at least a top t to P an air Poeket on the PP slflleinsulator, side insulators extending downwardly from of the eonheehhgmember and the other of Sald opposite ends thereof in parallel relationwith respect ffamesto each other,

e Struethre of clahh 1, wherein said top and side insulators are hookedto the wherein the lhshletol' 15 generally H'shaped form 40 associatedframe members and have sealing interand has an outer leg having anabutment adapted to engagement with the frame members of the oppositeabut a corresponding face of one of said frames and frame, and

a an lhwa-rdly hooked end Porno extending m wherein the thermal barrieralso includes a bottom insa1d abutment adapted to be hooked onto On fSald sulator having slidable sealing interengagement with fand P Ylhwardhf to ahuttmgly engage an adjacent opposite frame members of saidinterior and inner leg of said insulator with said frame, a exteriorframes, all of said insulators being H-shaped Wherelh the ends of Saldlegs opposlte sald hooked end in form to provide dual air seals betweensaid frame portion have retaining slides formed integrally theremembersof Said interior and exterior frames with to slidably receive another ofsaid frames in assembling the window frame structure. 4. The structureof claim 3, References Cited wherein screws extend through theconnecting member UNITED STATES PATENTS of said insulator and arethreaded in an associated frame to seal the insulator to said frame andprovide g; g; 3 t l l 52-403 a plurality of dead air pockets in thespace between 5? 3114179 12/1963 B f 1 e 52 403 said frame andconnecting member. O 3156332 11/1964 cnggs 5. In a window structure andin combination with a 2 6 1 6 fi 2 403 Window frame having spacedexterior and inte i frames 7 9 5 e InehZ 5 including,

individual exterior and interior frame members extend- KENNETH DOWNEYPrlmary Exammer' ing about said frames and having inner faces spacedfrom and facing each other and extending therealong, at least one ofsaid inner faces having a gib extending at right angles with respectthereto along the outer US. Cl. X.R.

